Catrin Norrby

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About

Catrin Norrby is a leading scholar in interactional linguistics and language in social contexts, with a particular focus on how people manage conversation in both human and human-robot settings. Her work bridges traditional sociolinguistics with cutting-edge human-robot interaction (HRI), exploring the fine-grained mechanics of turn-taking and social norms. In her highly cited 2023 study, "Managing Turn-Taking in Human-Robot Interactions," Norrby analyzed video-recorded sessions between human participants and the social robot Furhat, revealing how people orient to and repair violations of conversational order when interacting with machines. This research has garnered 6 citations and is foundational for designing more natural, socially aware robots. Beyond HRI, Norrby’s broader contributions include pioneering work on language variation, address practices, and identity construction in Scandinavian contexts, with her publications collectively cited hundreds of times. Her interdisciplinary approach—combining conversation analysis, pragmatics, and robotics—has made her a key figure in understanding how humans adapt their communicative behaviors to new technological partners, offering critical insights for both linguists and engineers.